OU Professors, Graduate Student Build Tool for State Lawmakers to Estimate Cost of Legislation

NORMAN, OKLA. – University of Oklahoma faculty and a graduate student in the Department of Sociology built a cost estimation tool for the state to view the cost of possible legislation by accounting for a wide variety of factors such as geography and staffing. 

The state of Oklahoma has since used the tool to guide the budget for the first year of the Family Representation and Advocacy Program that will provide better legal representation to families in the child welfare system.

“Working on the project was great,” Mitchell Peck, associate professor and interim chair of the Department of Sociology, said. “Working with judges, legislators, attorneys, social workers and other stakeholders to help solve a real-world problem in Oklahoma was very rewarding. It was especially gratifying to see the work result in legislation that stands to improve the lives of Oklahoma families and children.”

Heather Lepper-Pappan, a graduate student pursuing a doctorate in sociology, said her primary task for the project was to research the average pay for each of the positions needed to build the interdisciplinary team.

“I used the Bureau of Labor Statistics to identify average salaries for all positions and helped determine the values needed for the cost simulation tool,” Lepper-Pappan said. “I also helped develop and present our final report that was submitted to the Oklahoma Supreme Court. This project was very fulfilling for me to see the direct implications of our work in helping improve policy surrounding parent representation and the preservation of families within our child welfare system.”

The Family Representation and Advocacy Program will be under  the Administrative Office of the Courts to ensure all attorneys are trained and supported to work with families. With the help of the cost estimation tool, the state will spend $4.6 million to set up the central office.

“This project is a great example of state and university partnership that led directly to positive impact for our state and the hundreds of parents who would otherwise enter dependency court without adequate legal representation,” Erin Maher, associate professor in the department of sociology and senior associate director for OU’s Data Institute of Societal Challenges, said. “Our state partners needed tools to help them advocate for change and make decisions about what that this change would look like. Our team was able to respond quickly based on our expertise in policy simulation, quantitative analyses and simply being able to see the issue and provide them with something flexible and useful from a trusted, outside source.”